Something sweet from the Dangerous Minds archives. Originally posted on August 4, 2010.
Elizabeth Taylor and David Bowie at their first meeting in Beverly Hills, 1975. Photographs by Terry O’Neill. Scanned from the book Legends by Terry O’Neill.
Via Glamour-a-go-go
There was a time not that long ago when New York City was overrun with marijuana. In the 1940s and early 50s, pot plants were flourishing in vacant lots throughout the five boroughs. In 1951 over 41,000 pounds of marijuana were uprooted and destroyed by the sanitation department’s weed wacking “White Wing Squad,” so described because of their white uniforms. Queens alone yielded 17,000 pounds for the grim reapers.
“Though the bust in the above article occurred in Greenwich Village, the leader of this group of “strikingly pretty girls” and musicians copped to finding his marijuana “somewhere in Brooklyn.” As to what they were doing “sitting hobo style around a man preparing marijuana in a frying pan” is, however, anyone’s guess.”
Read about the amazing history of New York City’s marijuana jungles at the Brooklyn Public Library’s website. Lots of jaw-dropping photographs.
In the photo below, 100 pounds of ganja uprooted in Brooklyn is being hauled off for incinerators in Woodside, Queens.
It looks like someone got to the crops before the cops did:
Thanks to Mark Kamins for the turn-on.
The Police Gazette was a legendary publication that started out as a small 16 page magazine in 1845 and by the 1950s had morphed into a fullblown tabloid with a focus on scandal, gossip, movie stars and every form of sensationalism that would move copies off the newstands. Hitler was a big seller and The Police Gazette didn’t hesitate to exploit the Fuhrer’s sales appeal. Readers were particularly attracted by headlines claiming Hitler was still alive.
From Pulp International:
You’ll notice that Gazette editors didn’t feel the need to think of clever headers—three times they went simply with “Hitler Is Alive”, which makes sense, because for readers of the time what could have been more frightening and mesmerizing than those three words? But posting these covers also made us think about how often Hitler’s name is invoked today, especially on cable news shows and wacko talk radio, while his image is rarely seen. Perhaps that indicates some sort of transition from actual monstrosity into ethereal boogeyman, but we think turning his name into an invocation is an insult to those who actually fought him and, needless to say, it trivializes his crimes and the indelible scar he burned across the face of humanity. Secondarily, it makes people vulnerable to all sorts of ad hominem arguments involving Nazis, arguments we can’t help noticing are often put forth by people who seem to have no actual emotion regarding the Holocaust, and no concept of its historical significance. Basically, we’re believers in Godwin’s Law. Adhering to those rules, Hitler retains his full, horrible meaning. And crazy as it sounds, that’s a good thing.”
In today’s world these Hitler headlines seem absolutely absurd until you consider the kind of alternate history being trafficked by the likes of Glenn Beck. I can imagine researchers at Glenn Beck University diligently poring over battered copies of The Police Gazette in hopes of uncovering repressed and forgotten bits of history’s shadow world. And if you’re unclear as to what Godwin’s Law’s is, the preceding two sentences qualify as an example.
More Hitler headlines from The Police Gazette after the jump…
On Thursday evening in London, there will be a premiere of what is thought by some to be a long-lost orchestration of “Song of the Volga Boatmen” by Igor Stravinsky. Joseph Landers, a music professor at the the University of Montevallo in Alabama, discovered a set of parts of the Stravinsky manuscript “in a pile of music destined for the rubbish heap.’ From Alabama.com:
A note attached to the parts, which he found while cleaning house at a New York library, read, “Parts orchestrated by Stravinsky especially for Mr. (Feodor) Chaliapin,” the famous bass singer. The complete score for the arrangement of the Russian folk song, “Song of the Volga Boatmen,” has never been found, so Landers assembled one for performance by the Orion Symphony in Cadogan Hall, in London’s Chelsea area.
Though doubt remains among some scholars concerning its authenticity, Orion conductor Toby Purser is convinced it is the real thing. He programmed the work as a result.
“There are moments of genius and originality in the orchestration which make its authenticity absolutely convincing to me,” he said in a written statement.
Landers was encouraged when he presented his findings last year to discerning scholars at Cambridge University, garnering support from musicologist Nicholas Cook and composer Robin Holloway. He hopes the London performance will help prove that the work is genuine, and perhaps yield the original score from a library, archive or attic.
“Stravinsky holographs show up every couple of years,” he told the Birmingham News last year. “I think it will be a point of debate in academic scholarship. I think it will get some legs as a controversy, probably after the premiere.”
Orion conductor Toby Purser is so sure the orchestration is Stravinsky’s that the audience will be asked to vote on its authenticity after the performance. Tickets can be purchased here.
“Song of the Volga Boatman, a traditional Russian folk song that dates back hundreds of years, was a #1 hit for the Glenn Miller Orchestra and is often heard in Bugs Bunny cartoons. Rocker Billy Squier inserted a bit of it into his biggest hit, “The Stroke.”
Below, Igor Stravinsky conducts “The Firebird” in Japan:
Halloween 1986 The Dead Boys re-unite and tear the roof off of The Ritz.
Stiv Bators, Cheetah Chrome, Jimmy Zero, Jeff Magnum and Johnny Blitz got it together for one more show in their old stomping ground of New York City. Starting with an introduction from long time supporter Joey Ramone, to the power riff of the honest-to-god anthem Sonic Reducer (played twice!) to an unreal cover of the Stooges Search and Destroy, the Dead Boys put the boot to the notion that all reunions suck.”
Dead Boys forever!
According to this ridiculous 70s ad, “Hear Muffs don’t look like headphones: they look more like a giant fuzzy doughnut with a bite missing.” They also make you look like a damn fool.
(via Das Kraftfuttermischwerk)
Here’s a great time-lapse video of a much seedier New York City shot back in 1983. Set to the sounds of Laurie Anderson’s “For Electronic Dogs,” it’s a wonderful portrait of what NYC was like in the early-80s.
(via KMFW)
Every picture tells a story and here is the story behind one of the most iconic rebel images of all, photographer Jim Marshall’s classic shot of Johnny Cash flippin’ the bird during his famous concert at San Quentin State Prison:
Some of Marshall’s most arresting photographs of Cash were taken at two California prisons, Folsom (1968) and San Quentin (1969). These were not Cash’s first performances for prison inmates—indeed, his song “Folsom Prison Blues” had been released more than a decade earlier, in 1955, as a 45 and 78 by Sun Records. But the trip to Folsom would be recorded for a live album, and Jim Marshall was invited along by Cash’s label, Columbia, to document the event.
On the SFAE website, Jim Marshall recalls the day, January 13, 1968, when Cash and his band, the Tennessee Three, with the great Carl Perkins on guitar, entered the prison (see the pensive portrait of Cash, above). “The granite walls in Folsom are about eight feet thick, and we had just gotten off the bus and gone through one giant gate into a holding area. Then we went through a second gate, and, when it clanked shut, John said, ‘Jim, there’s a feeling of permanence in that sound.’ After that, I started wondering when we were going to get out of there.”
The success of “Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison,” with a Marshall close-up of Cash on its cover, sweat dripping down his face from the bottom of his sideburns, sent Cash to San Quentin a year later for another live album. That recording, which made it to No. 1 on both the country and pop charts in the U.S., is famous for its black-and-blue cover, with Cash’s head silhouetted from behind by a harsh spotlight.
The most famous image from the day, though, is unquestionably the candid shot of Cash taken during a rehearsal before the show. Again from the SFAE website, Marshall recalls the origins of what he believed was “probably the most ripped off photograph in the history of the world. There was a TV crew behind me and John was on the side of the stage. I said ‘John, let’s do a shot for the warden.’” Apparently, that’s all the prompting Cash needed to look straight into Marshall’s lens and flip him the bird.
Below, Johny Cash and the Tennessee Three perform “San Quentin” at California’s San Quentin State Prison in 1969. What an amazing moment.
If you happen to have a spare 3000 clams laying about you can potentially own the legendary German über-producer Conny Plank’s rack mounted digital delay unit ! There are other, less exciting items from the great man’s studio also for sale, but this particular unit was well used in the early 80’s and probably never more effectively than on this stellar 1981 12” single duet with Holger Czukay under the name Les Vampyrettes. One of my absolute favorite records of all time.
Les Vampyrettes - Biomutanten
Les Vampyrettes - Menetekel
Conny Plank Studio on Ebay
With thanks to Brian Turner via Geeta Dayal !
Clearly a labor of love, Joey Tosi’s Cry Baby: The Pedal That Rocks The World is a cool documentary about a subject dear to the hearts of guitar players everywhere, the wah wah pedal. I remember my first, it was made by Vox and I slowly stomped it to death over the course of several years while playing in garage bands in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.
Cry Baby: The Pedal That Rocks The World tells the story of the wah wah effect pedal, from its invention in 1966 to the present day. Musicians, engineers, and historians discuss the impact of the pedal on popular music and demonstrate the various ways it has been used, as well as how its evolution has improved the ability of artists to express themselves musically. The film features interviews with Brad Plunkett, the inventor of the pedal, plus many other musical luminaries such as Ben Fong-Torres, Eddie Van Halen, Slash, Buddy Guy, Art Thompson, Eddie Kramer, Kirk Hammett, Dweezil Zappa, and Jim Dunlop. These professionals explain how a musical novelty transcended convention and has become timelessly woven into the fabric of modern pop-culture.”
Here’s Cry Baby: The Pedal That Rocks The World in its entirety. Thanks Joey.
Thanks Ed!